Colombo [Sri Lanka], October 30 : Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday clarified that the appointments of Julian Wood and Rene Ferdinands as lead national batting and bowling coaches would not affect the roles of Thilina Kandamby and Piyal Wijetunge in Sri Lanka Cricket's coaching structure, saying that each coach would link up with the men's national side on a "rotational basis".
Wood has been brought up to the national side lead batting coach post for a year-long deal after a "power-hitting programme" earlier this year, with various national squads and players left impressed by his inputs. Also, Ferdinands, a biomechanics expert, had worked with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) National Cricket Academy and also served as a biomechanics consultant with New Zealand Cricket (NZC).
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Ashley de Silva said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "All these coaches, they are not being specified to say that they would be working with the national team. They work as the national coaches, but that does not mean they should work solely with the men's national team."
"Across the board, there are national teams, no? So on a rotational basis, tour by tour, we will decide who will be joining the teams. That's how the high-performance centre operates now. That does not mean that each person would work only with a particular team. Other than the head coach and a few other members, the rest of them would be rotated."
This rotational setup is very unusual worldwide, with South Africa coming closest to it, as their lead batting and bowling coaches, Imran Khan and Paul Adams, get occasionally deployed with the national sides across the board, but most of their work takes place at the high-performance centre.
Kandamby, who played 39 ODIs and five T20Is for Sri Lanka from 2004-14, has been Sri Lanka's men's team batting coach since December 2023, and Wijetunge has served as a spin-bowling coach for the last 19 years, having been appointed back in February 2006. Their roles came under heavy criticism after Sri Lanka lost a T20I series against Bangladesh, but the board backed them to continue in their roles.
"They (the men's team batting and spin bowling coach) work in the organisation, it is not that their contracts have been terminated," the CEO said. "It does not matter wherever they have been assigned; they should be prepared to work."
"Even they [Wood and Ferdinands] have been designated the same way, so they would be working across the board. Depending on the tours, we, the ExCo [executive committee] will decide who should go on tour," the CEO added.
SL's next assignment is an ODI series in Pakistan in November, followed by a T20I tri-nation series involving Zimbabwe there. As per Silva, no decision has been taken on which coaching pair will go on the tour.